Revenge
by Marjory Stewart-Baxter
Summary: Bella is kidnapped with no easy way out. Rated M because it gets pretty dark and intense in later chapters. All human AU
1. Chapter 1

It was her fault really. If she wanted to blame someone, she guessed it would all come back to was the one who had wanted to go out, since she never got a chance to do that.

She couldn't blame Jake for letting her, he knew she needed a break. Thinking of him and Eli made her shake. She wondered if she would ever see them again.

She tried to think back and think of a way she could have prevented this.

She had been out with her friends, they were hanging out at one of the restaurant bars there in town, just talking, laughing, and catching up, something she hadn't had time to do since Eli was born.

The thought of her precious baby boy again nearly brought her to tears, but she knew she didn't have time for that right now.

She remembered she had went to the bathroom at some point, and that's where it all went fuzzy. Had someone drugged her? She didn't remember passing out, or even someone forcing her out of the restaurant.

But somehow she ended up in what seemed like a trunk, she could hear the engine and feel the movement of the car. When she first woke up, she screamed until her voice went hoarse. She tried kicking out the lights, but she couldn't get enough momentum in the tight space to kick them out.

Now she was exhausted and overwhelmed. She continuously pushed thoughts of her husband and son out of her mind. She knew if she started getting upset over them, she would never be able to think straight enough to get herself out of this. She wanted to think Jacob would come for her, but she couldn't imagine how he would know where to even begin looking for her.

Their lives were the complete opposite of, well, this. They were boring people. Happy, but boring. The only reason she knew about kicking out the taillight, was from watching some show on tv.

She laid there for what could have been hours or days, her mind spinning from trying to figure out what was going on, why it was happening, and what she was going to do when they got wherever they got where they were going.

She had already figured this wasn't just a date rape. They probably would have done something to her there in the parking lot if they were going to do anything at all. That actually left a lot of scary possibilities.

Visions of 'Saw' and other torture movies started running through her head. Suddenly date rape didn't seem so bad. Ugh, what was she thinking.

She couldn't feel her arms or legs now. She wished she could know what time, or even what day it was. She had no idea how long she had been knocked out, but she seemed like she had been awake for hours, and she couldn't remember if she had slept on and off in-between. This was torture in itself.

Finally she felt the car driving over rough ground. Thinking they were close she maneuvered to where she thought she would be able to kick out on the person as soon as they opened the trunk. She laid there, ready to kick for several minutes. Then she started hearing someone moving around in the backseat. Suddenly a ray of light came from behind her as someone pulled the seat down, but before she had time to turn around, she felt a needle stab into her neck.

Then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

Bella woke from what felt like an extremely deep sleep. She looked around trying to get her bearings, but saw nothing familiar. Her mind was still really fuzzy from whatever it was that had knocked her out.

She was definitely out of the trunk, but was now tied down to a chair, her arms wrapped around the back and tied together, and her ankles tied to the bottom legs. And there was something tied around her mouth to keep her from yelling.

She was facing a blank, concrete wall, and from the musty smell, she could tell she was in a basement. She started trying to turn her body around, trying to get a look around her. She tried to rock her chair around to see. From what she could catch out of the corner of her eye, it seemed ordinary enough. She wasn't able to move anymore, so she decided to wait. She tried to listen for any noises from upstairs, but everything was completely silent.

Bella began trying to calm herself, knowing she could only get out of this if she was being rational, and she couldn't be rational if she started freaking out.

_'Ok, so it doesn't look like whoever this person is, has anyone else tied up down here, so they aren't some serial killer...hopefully. It would probably smell a whole lot worse if I was just one of many kidnappings, or whatever this is, so it has to be an isolated incident. So, does this person know me? Wait, would someone be messing with me? No way, you don't kidnap a cop's daughter as a joke. Unless, it's not a joke, and you're trying to get back at the cop? No, I've been gone from home for so long, they wouldn't come after me.'_

The more Bella talked to herself, the calmer she got. In fact, she started thinking of all the television dramas she had watched in the past, and knew there was always a way out, which gave her hope. She refused to admit to herself those shows were fictional, and real life is much different. All she could do was keep herself calm, and watch for her way out.

She waited for what seemed like hours, and had just started dozing when she heard a door open upstairs. She heard a set of footsteps walking around above her, and faintly another set running around somewhere farther away. Bella became more anxious just waiting, wondering who it was, and when they were going to do, whatever they were going to do, to her. Several long minutes later, she finally heard the basement door open, and footsteps coming down the stairs. Bella froze, a cold sweat coming over her. The calm she had worked so hard for was slowly trickling away.

She heard the steps walking through the basement several feet behind her, and shuffle around, and then the sounds of rushing water followed.

_'Is that a washing machine?'_

Suddenly thoughts of bloody clothes came to mind, and Bella had nearly lost all of her calm, when the footsteps finally came over to where she was tied. She was not prepared for the sight she saw.

It was a woman, a beautiful woman. Not the crazy, nasty women that you see in Rob Zombie flicks, but the kind of woman you would work with, be friends with even.

Bella had a slight flicker of hope that this woman had no idea Bella was down here, and would untie her.

"Isabella." The woman said in a voice that chilled Bella to her core.

_'Ok, so no hope here._'

"So glad you decided to wake up. You've been asleep for quite awhile."

The woman's tone told Bella that this chick definitely wasn't as normal as she thought, and had no intention of letting her go. Bella furrowed her brows, trying to get the woman to keep talking. Why had she brought Bella here?

"You might as well get comfy, you're going to be here as long as it takes."

_'As long as it takes? As long as WHAT takes? What the does that even mean?'_

"Mommy!" A little voice came from the top of the stairs. "Mommy, where are you?"

Bella's looked at the woman, wide-eyed. Even if she hadn't had the gag on, she knew she would have been speechless.

_'This lunatic has a kid!'_

"Mommy's coming sweetie! Stay upstairs, remember, the scary monsters will get you if you come down here!" The woman yelled back.

Bella heard the child run quickly away from the basement door. The woman looked back at Bella, her beautiful face snarled up.

"And we can't let that happen can we." She said only loud enough for Bella to hear. Then she quickly kicked Bella in both shins as hard as she could. Bella screamed in pain, though it was muffled through the gag. Through tears, she watched as the woman walked away, up the basement stairs, turning the light off, leaving Bella in the dark.


	3. Chapter 3

He had never driven so slow in his whole life. He always dreaded going home, but tonight especially. He knew he had done it to himself, shot himself in the foot by telling Tori how he really felt. He thought if he was honest with her, she would be reasonable and let him go.

He hated it for Benjamin, he knew how bad it could be living in a house where your mom and dad didn't get along.

But he couldn't live in a lie anymore.

Wouldn't it be better for Benjamin to have parents that were separated but happy, instead of together and unhappy? He had lived that life as a child, and it wasn't fun.

But Tori had not been so level headed. At first she cried, then she was furious and started trying to hit and kick him.

But then, she kind of, just, cracked.

She had just smiled and said she needed to fix dinner, got up, and went into the kitchen. And everytime he tried to bring it up, she would ignore him or change the subject.

He had been sleeping in Benjamin's room for the past 2 weeks since having the conversation with her.

In her defense, he should have never told her that he had never really gotten over his ex, but he was only trying to be honest with her. He didn't think it was fair to Tori to keep the truth from her. And he thought that maybe if she knew the truth, she would know it wasn't anything she had done to drive him away.

It wasn't her at all, it was him.

But after 5 years of marriage and a 3 year old, the whole 'It's not you, it's me' thing doesn't really work that well. He had loved her, and they had had some good times together. And he had tried to get Bella out of his mind, but he thought about her all the time, wondering what she was up to, how her life was, regretting how their relationship had come undone, and continually wishing he had done things different.

He knew he had treated Bella like crap, but by the time he grew up enough to fix it, it was too late and she had found someone that was much better to her.

He never could get over that.

He loved Tori, but at some point he realized that it wasn't enough if he was always thinking about Bella, and Tori didn't deserve that.

She deserved someone to give her 100% of himself, and he just couldn't do that. He had tried for 5 years.

Now he was in a huge mess. And he knew the only way to get anywhere was for him to leave. He had already decided it.

He had arranged for Benjamin to spend the weekend with his grandparents. Tori had been surprisingly on board with that, probably thinking they were going to mend things. Unfortunately she was going to be in for a big surprise. He was planning on packing his stuff tonight and leaving. He didn't want Benjamin to witness what was going to happen. He would rather his son grow to think it was a peaceful split.

He remembered the horrible fights his parents would have before they finally split, and how it can mess up a kid for life.

Before he knew it, he was already pulling into the driveway. Even though he took an extra 20 minutes to get home from work tonight, it still wasn't long enough.

He smiled though as he got out of his truck. Benjamin was standing at the door waiting on him. He was grinning and jumping up and down, so excited his daddy was home.

Benjamin was the only thing that made Edward smile anymore, and that was ok because he loved that boy more than anything. He walked in the house and swooped Benjamin up and hugged him tight.

"Are you all ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's?"

"Ganma's! Yaay!" Benjamin squealed.

"Ok, go get your stuff and we'll see if mommy will take you over there." Edward watched as Benjamin ran off to his room. "Tori!" He yelled through the house.

"I've already got dinner going, it will be ready in about 20 minutes." he heard her sing through the kitchen.

He gritted his teeth. While he hated to hurt her, he also hated that she was in such denial that their marriage was ending. Her sickly sweet demeanor was nauseating.

"Did you want me to take Ben, or were you going to take him? Edward answered back. Tori came around the corner with a big, fat, fake smile on her face.

"Why don't you run him over quick, do you care?"

"That's fine." He said as he walked down the hall to Benjamin's room. He smiled as he watched Ben trying to get all his trucks, cars, and animals into his little duffle bag. Edward didn't have the heart to make him leave any behind, so he pulled a second bag from the top of the closet. "Here buddy, let's put some of these in here." And he loaded the rest of his toys in the bag, and made sure there were also some extra clothes in there.

"Bye Mommy, love you!" Ben said as he hugged Tori going out the door. Edward was happy to have the extra time with Benjamin, and be away from Tori too. But again, the drive to his mom and stepdad's house and back was much too quick.

Again he found himself back in his driveway, only this time there was no Benjamin waiting on him inside.

He sat in his truck, dreading what was to come.

As he reluctantly got out, he decided that it needed to be like ripping off a bandaid. This had gone on far too long, he couldn't worry about sparing her feelings anymore. He knew she would appreciate it later on. They both would, they both needed to get over this mountain and move on.

He took a deep breath and walked through the front door.


	4. Chapter 4

The darkness can play some nasty games with your head. Whether it's amplifying your fear of the unknown, or being too self aware of yourself alone with your thoughts.

After what felt like days of being tied up down here, with no further interaction from her captor, Bella felt like she might go crazy, although no one could really blame her in the situation.

Who was this woman, and how did she know Bella?

She was giving herself a headache trying to figure out who the read head was, and what Bella had done to piss her off to the point of…...what? What was she planning on doing?

She hadn't exactly seemed apologetic of her actions, so she must be crazy, so she must not be far from murder... Bella was making it worse. The more she tried thinking, the more she lost hope. How would she ever get out of here?

She remembered the face of her baby boy. He had just turned 6 months. He had just started trying to crawl. She was going to miss everything. Talking, walking, everything. She would never hear him say 'mama'.

That's when she started letting her tears fall.

She didn't care anymore. Nothing mattered if she didn't have Eli. He was her whole world.

What would Jake do? How would he raise Eli by himself? Would Leah be her replacement?

Bella sighed heavily at the thought. Leah and Jacob had always been close, probably closer than Bella and Jacob. Leah could make him happy. They had much more in common. Would Eli call her 'mama'?

Bella became nauseated thinking about that. And angry. How could she let herself give up so easily?

No, she wouldn't. She would fight to the end. It's just a little hard to fight when you're tied down.

Suddenly she heard a bang upstairs that sounded like a door. In a minute she heard what sounded like a man's voice yell out. Then she heard the soft feminine voice she assumed was the woman. A couple more exchanges and the door shut again, then silence.

She twisted her wrists again but stopped immediately. They were already painfully raw, stinging from the rope. She blew out a sigh of defeat. For now, there was nothing to do but sit and wait. In the dark. With her thoughts only on Eli and Jacob.


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok, so you're getting this one super fast to make up for me not having a set schedule with these. I'm going to _try_ to start posting more often than just once a week, because I know how much I hate having to waaaait on new chapters. ****Also, I have a really bad habit of retweaking to the point of changing the entire chapter from what it was originally. I kept changing my mind about who the villain was, so I'm having to keep going through the chapters with a fine tooth comb to make sure I didn't leave a different name in for her. So if you see a name that sticks out, PLEASE let me know so I can fix it asap. (I'll let you know later on who I was trying to decide between) Anywho, on with the story.**

Bella couldn't remember how long she had dozed, when she woke to the sound of screaming. The voices she had heard earlier were back, and both were frighteningly angry. She could pick up the deep tones of a man's voice yelling, but the girl's shrill, high pitched scream was drowning everything else out, and causing the words to be imperceptible.

Suddenly there was a loud thump, loud enough to cause Bella to jump, and everything went silent. Bella could only hope the guy had lost it and knocked the girl out, although he was probably in on this too. You couldn't very well hide someone in your basement without anyone else knowing, could you?

She heard some movement upstairs, almost like dragging. And a few minutes later she heard the basement door open. She dropped her head thinking if she was sleeping, maybe they would leave her alone.

She heard footsteps coming toward her, but wasn't prepared for the slap that came right across her face. She screamed through her gag, both in surprise and pain.

The girl lifted Bella's head up roughly by her hair and looked her in the eyes. Bella cringed as she ripped off the gag and Bella took a much needed deep breath she wasn't able to get just through her nose.

"You." The redhead seethed in Bella's face. " This is all your fault. I was happy before you screwed it up." The woman was shaking with anger at this point. Bella had had enough. She screamed back in the girl's face,

"I don't even know you! How could I have done anything to you? Who are you?" Bella screamed louder with each sentence until her throat stung with the last word. The girl looked at her for a moment and then let go of her hair and stepped back. She had a smirk on her face that gave Bella a sick feeling in her stomach.

"Well then we should get ourselves acquainted then, shouldn't we?" The sudden calmness made Bella much more uneasy than the screaming. She didn't say anything, just watched for the redhead to continue.

"Well, I guess first I should ask you if the name Edward Cullen rings bell." Bella's face scrunched up at the name.

Edward? What did this girl have to do with Edward? She hadn't talked to Edward in years, not since they broke up and he left town. Why was she talking about Edward?

"Trying to figure it out dollface?" The woman brought Bella back from her thoughts. "Well, Edward is my husband, whom I love very much, but, apparently after all this time, he's still hung up on you, so he's decided I'm not good enough for him anymore. But all that's about to change. Once you're gone and out of the picture he'll realize how much he really loves me."

Bella's brain was moving so slowly trying to process everything. She must be dreaming, yes, that's it. What kind of psycho kidnaps her husband's ex to...what? Kill her in front of him? Is that what she was going to do? Some sick form of closure?

Bella's brain was too busy processing the girl's previous statement to control what she said next.

"Gone and out of the picture? Where do you think I've been the past 7 years?" Again, she ended up screaming at the woman, which earned her another slap, which this time she was more prepared for.

"Listen," Bella leveled, " you can beat me all you like. You can even kill me, but you are crazy if you think that's going to be some magic fix for your screwed up marriage."

This was about the time Bella's brain caught up to what she was saying, but it was too late to stop her mouth, the words were already out. And although Bella could put on a brave face, the fire in the woman's eyes was the scariest thing she had ever seen, in what was looking to be, her very short life.


	6. Chapter 6

He had it all planned out in his head. He knew how she would react, so he had prepared himself for every possible way she could react. Worst case scenario, she would throw all his stuff out in the yard, destroy a few prized possessions, and he'd be in his hotel room by 1am.

That was to be worst case scenario.

He never counted on her being a psychopath.

He remembered coming back in the house after dropping Benjamin off. She had their dinner waiting on the table.

He didn't even stop. He went straight to the bedroom and started packing his clothes. That's when it started. The screaming, just like he had predicted. He was ready for that, and when she started throwing things and breaking things, he was ready for that too.

He was almost out, he was just crossing the kitchen when he made his mistake. He turned his back to her. He never saw it coming, but he definitely felt it. A dull thud quickly followed by sharp pain swallowing his head, and then everything went black.

And now here he was, sitting at the dining room table, with his hands tied behind him, and his ankles tied to the legs of the chair. The food was still sitting there where Tori had left it.

Panic began to set in. This couldn't be the same woman he had spent the last 5 years married to, this was some crazy person he had never met, which meant he had no idea what she was capable of.

And it was all his fault, he had driven her to this.

But he had to get away, he had to make sure she never got anywhere near Ben again. He started pulling against the ropes, and felt them cutting into his wrists. He was getting ready to try to break the chair apart when a bloodcurdling scream froze him right where he was.

"Victoria!" He yelled involuntarily. He waited through a minute of silence before he heard someone stomping up the basement stairs.

"What?" She yelled at him, annoyed he had interrupted her.

"What are you doing? Let me out of this." He said, trying to remain calm. He didn't understand anything that was going on, and found it impossible to gauge the situation. Just a minute ago it had sounded like she was pain, and he had been thinking she was trying to hurt herself, but now she seemed fine. Crazy-insane, but fine.

That was when he heard it.

Whimpering, down from the basement. He tensed up. "What are you doing down there? Do you have someone down there?" He asked incredulously, hoping his ears had played tricks on him instead.

"You'll find out soon enough." Victoria said flatly, her voice dripping with something he had never heard before from her; evil. Edward went cold. This was far worse than he could have ever imagined. This was so much more than a crazy wife, desperate to keep her husband from leaving. She had someone in the basement? And was hurting them? Who could she possibly want to hurt? What other person did she hate so much...oh no. No. No way. No, there's no way she could have done something like that, kidnapped an innocent person to keep in their basement. Edward's mind began reeling, trying to grasp the reality of what was happening when he felt a sharp prick in the side of his neck, and few seconds later, nothing.


	7. Chapter 7

Bella didn't mean to scream, she was trying to ignore the pain. She had been gritting her teeth so hard through it all, her head and jaws ached, and she was sure she had heard a tooth or two crack. The punches and kicks she could deal with, but when the girl started using a blade to start cutting into her skin, she couldn't control it anymore. That's when she heard him. His voice was muffled, but it was unmistakably Edward. He was there, upstairs. Did he know she was down here? If he did, why wasn't he trying to help her? The girl cursed and dropped her knife and stomped toward the stairs. Bella couldn't hold back the tears anymore, this was more than anyone could take. She heard them talking upstairs, she heard Edward tell the girl to let him go.

Oh God. He wasn't coming because she had him tied up too. The last of her hope disappeared with that realization and it caused her to let out a small sob. She didn't think it was that loud, but it was loud enough for him to hear.

He didn't know. He had no idea she had been down here the whole time. She started squirming again, ignoring her raw wrists. She wasn't sure why, but she suddenly had a surge of energy in the form of desperation. Maybe it was the fact that she knew the only way she would be able to get out, was by her means only. She heard a dull thump upstairs and stopped, then she heard dragging, and then thumping again down the basement stairs. The redhead was bringing him down here. Bella's stomach dropped and tears stung at her eyes when she saw him being dragged roughly down the stairs. The girl tied him up to the banister opposite of Bella.

"I thought you said you loved him." Bella said, desperate to appeal to any kind of humanity the girl had left in her.

"I did...I do." She said with sad eyes as she stared at Edward's slumped form on the floor. "I can't let him go." She said softly. Bella thought maybe she was getting ready to give in when she turned to her quickly and walked over to her. "So I've decided if he doesn't want to be with me, then he can't be with anyone."

"Then let me go! You don't need me! Why am I even here? This is between you two, there's no reason for me to be here!" Bella was desperate and saying anything to get herself out of here. She didn't want to leave Edward here with this psycho, but if she could at least get away, she could get help for him.

"If he sees you're not alive, then he'll be able to really put his feelings behind him." Her words made Bella go numb.

Bella's heart dropped. All her brain could comprehend was...'not alive'.

She was vaguely aware of the girl picking up the knife to begin cutting on her again.


	8. Chapter 8

Edward became slowly aware of the alarm clock echoing loudly around him. He tried to bring his arm up to hit snooze, but he couldn't move it. The sharp pain from his wrists brought him back to reality. That wasn't an alarm. It was Bella, screaming. Victoria was bent over her, he couldn't see what she was doing but he could see the blood running down Bella's arms.

"STOP!" Edward bellowed. Victoria jumped and dropped the knife out of surprise. She stepped away and Edward swallowed the bile that came up at the sight of Bella. She was barely conscious, her long brown hair was matted with sweat and blood, framing her beaten and bloody face, her clothes soaked in blood from whatever Victoria had been doing to her with that knife. "Leave her alone. She didn't do anything to deserve this." Edward said to Victoria as she stared at him. She began walking slowly toward him, and slapped him hard across the face. "Why are you doing this?" His voice rough with desperation.

Her face softened.

"Once she's gone, there won't be any reason for you to want to leave. We can be happy and you can finally let go." Edward stopped breathing at what she was saying. She was going to kill Bella. He had to find a way to get her out of here.

"No, let her go. Killing her will only make me hate you. You have to let her go, that's the only way to fix what you've done."

"What I've done?" Her voice became shrill again. Edward cringed at his mistake. "This is all because of her! This is all her fault! I won't be happy until I know she is dead and gone. This woman has done nothing but make my life miserable! It hasn't exactly been a big secret that you still think about her, but I gave you everything she didn't. I loved you when she didn't. She left you! And you still can't let go! She's been taking you away from me for years,but I won't let her anymore! This ends now!" Victoria had completely lost whatever little bit of sanity she had been clinging to.

"Then do it." Bella's weak and broken voice spoke out as she tried lifting her head. "Just end this already. I can't take it anymore." Edward's heart broke at hearing her say this. She had given up. He really didn't know how long she had been down here, or what Victoria had done to her. But it killed him to think she had given up. He knew she had a family somewhere. There were people out there who loved and cared for her, if not a husband, she at least had her parents and brother. And if his memory served him correctly, Charlie and Emmett would stop at nothing to get her back.


	9. Chapter 9

She told Bella she wanted her feel the torture she had felt all these years. All those years she couldn't live up to his standards. She wanted her to know exactly what had brought her here and why Bella was ruining her life.

That's when she started carving.

Bella thought at first, the girl was just going to stab her, but she kept the knife in and started dragging it through her skin. The pain was the most intense thing she had ever felt. She screamed and begged her to stop. The girl would lift the knife and Bella would breathe with relief, but then she would start again. It was like she was drawing lines all over her arms and torso with the blade, deep lines.

Every few minutes she would get dizzy from both the pain and loss of blood, and feel like she was going to black out, but the girl must have noticed, because she would twist the knife just a little bit to jolt Bella back to full consciousness.

This went on for what seemed like hours, pushing Bella to the point of wishing for death. She wished the girl would just hit an artery, she wanted this to be over with. This was hell for her, and she just wanted it to go away. Even the thought of Eli couldn't bring her back from this. She had hit the bottom and was completely hopeless of ever returning to him.

Just as she thought she was going to blackout for the fifth time, Edwards voice cut through her fog, and to her relief, the girl listened. Bella listened as Edward tried to talk his wife down, but instead, he just angered her more. She started ranting about how it was all Bella's fault and nothing was going to be better until Bella was gone.

"Then do it." Bella heard herself say before she could even think about it. She was barely conscious, but she meant it. This girl, Victoria, obviously had no intention of letting her see daylight again. The only other person who could help her was as helpless as she was. "Just end this already. I can't take anymore." Her voice caught on the last word realizing she had given up. She dropped her head to her chest as she silently said a prayer for Eli. The last thing she remembered hearing before everything went black was Edward's promise to kill Victoria if she touched Bella.

EPOV

"Don't touch her Victoria. I swear if you do I'll kill you myself." He couldn't help it, the anger had taken over. The woman he had married was gone, replaced with this non-human replica, ready to take a life, just because her own life wasn't going the way she wanted. She looked at him and then at Bella. Edward was trying to figure out what she was thinking. She looked panicked, almost like an animal that had been cornered. Then she flew at Bella and began throwing punches at her wherever she could. Edward was screaming at her to stop, but was helpless to anything more than that. She laid one last punch to Bella, knocking her to the floor with a sick crack. Edward started yelling Bella's name, but there was no movement. Victoria stood above Bella with her shoulders slumped forward. She turned and looked at Edward, her face empty of any emotion.

"You killed her." He told her, as if she hadn't grasped her actions yet. She slowly nodded her head. She started walking toward Edward.

"Stay the hell away from me." He hissed at her. "Don't come near me." Victoria stared at him. She had run out of fight, and just stood in front of him, looking defeated.

"Fine then." She said quietly. "Rot here for all I care." And she slowly walked up the stairs, closing the door behind her and locking it, leaving him in the dark.

Edward dropped his head back against the banister and closed his eyes, trying to keep the tears from coming. Every breath shook with his sobs. Bella should seem like a stranger, a distant memory from so long ago, but even though he hadn't seen her in over 7 years, his memory of her was obviously strong enough to drive a wedge between him and his wife over the years. He had thought about Bella nearly every day. And now, here she was in front of him, lying in a puddle of blood. The thoughts of everything that had taken place over the past several hours made him dizzy, and he began to sob uncontrollably.

It was a few hours later before he sobered up enough to realize he needed to get out of there for his son. He wanted to make sure she never got anywhere near Benjamin ever again. He started pulling and twisting his hands, trying to break through the ties on the banister, when he heard movement across from him. He couldn't see anything, but he could hear her moving...

"Bella?" He asked softly. He didn't want Victoria to hear him if there was a chance Bella was alive. "Bella, are you alright?" He tensed waiting in the dark for an answer, which he received in the form of a moan. That was enough for him. "Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here." Edward said softly. He started rubbing the ties roughly against the banister, trying to cut through it. He was going to get her out of there, and he couldn't do it tied down.


	10. Chapter 10

She was sitting on the beach with Eli, he was digging his chubby little fingers in the sand, feeling the texture of it for the first time. It was the first warm day they had had since he was born, so she took advantage of it to take him to the beach. Jacob had went out earlier that day to go hunting, so it was just her and Eli. It was one of the most peaceful feelings, just the sounds of the waves and the wind, and the sound of Eli babbling on, and her keeping him from trying to eat the sand. He looked up at her and gave her an amazing grin, a grin he could only have gotten from his father, she went to smile to, but a sharp pain through her temples caused her to wince instead.

She must have made a terrible face because Eli started whimpering. She tried to wrap her arms around him and show him everything was ok, but she was stuck to where she was, and another, sharper pain went through her head. This time it caused her to suck in a deep breath, which caused her ribs to ache. What was going on? He whole body all of a sudden was in pain. She looked around but there was no one else out on the beach. She kept trying to move, and trying to get to Eli, but it was like she was paralyzed, unable to move. She tried with all of her strength to cry for help, but the intake of breath was too painful, it felt like she couldn't fill her lungs enough with breath, and when she tried, sharp pain emitted from her chest and abdomen. Eli started crying harder, but it didn't sound like him. The louder his cries got, the deeper they got, sounding more like a grown man instead of her baby boy. She was so frightened and started crying, and slowly Eli disappeared and everything went black.

She wasn't on the beach anymore. The smell of rust and dirt hit her first and it brought her back to her nightmare. She remembered, she was in a basement. Edward's basement. She was on the floor. She tried to get up, but her hands were still tied down.

She heard Edward say her name tentatively, asking if she was alright. Why couldn't she see? Were her eyes even open? Yes, she was aware that she was blinking...sort of. One eye was almost swollen shut, and the other felt extremely tight, it may have been swelling shut also.

She wanted to answer with a sarcastic comment, 'Oh yeah, peachy', but she could barely breathe without pain shooting through her, so she only got out a moan so he would know she was at least alive. She laid there for a bit resting. She wanted to ask if Victoria was gone for good, or if she was getting a chainsaw or something, but she was just so exhausted. She wasn't dead yet though, at least she had that going for her, right?

"Don't worry," Edward said softly, "I'm going to get you out of here."

She sighed inwardly, wondering if they really would ever be able to get out of here alive. But somehow that gave her the momentum she needed to try and move again. As she twitched her arms around, she heard something cracking. It was the chair. It must have broke when she fell. She kept moving, little by little, continuing to break the back of the chair down, the wood cracking and popping as she did.

"Bella, what are you doing? Are you ok?" Edward asked across the black basement.

"The chair..." she croaked out "...it's broken." She continued to work until she felt the back fall away. She cried out in relief as the tension on her wrists loosened. She started pulling at the seat of the chair and stretching out her legs, trying to pull the legs of the chair from the ties to her ankles. She finally gave up, rolled onto her back, and lifted the whole bottom of the chair with her legs and slammed it against the concrete. She gritted her teeth as the pain shot through her. After the fourth time she felt the bottom of the chair splinter beneath her legs. Again she let out a sob of relief. She was nearly free. She worked her hands around beneath her feet and got them to her front and was able to work the rope away from her wrists, then her ankles.

"Edward?" she whispered. "Where are you?"

"I'm tied to the stairs, should be straight across from you."

Bella slowly pulled herself across the floor, every movement causing pain to rip through her body. She was running out of strength, but this was her last chance, and she knew she had to see Eli again. If there was any chance to see that precious baby boy again, she would take it. She shuddered with every noise she made, scared that Victoria would return any second. Thoughts of Eli kept her going, until finally she reached Edward.

"My hands are tied behind the banister." He said. She barely heard him, she was trying so hard to keep thinking straight. Everything in her brain was foggy, thinking and hearing, and coupled with the fact her vision was so cloudy from the swelling. She felt around until she found his arms and moved down to his wrists where they were tied. Her fingers kept slipping from the blood that had caked over them, and tears started streaming down her face. She couldn't get it, it was pulled too tight. There wasn't a loose strand to pull on. How could she get this far, survive everything Victoria had thrown at her, and now when their chance to get out finally came, after she broke through her chair, she couldn't untie a simple knot? No. Too much. This was just.. too.. much.


	11. Chapter 11

"I'm tied to the stairs, should be straight across from you." Edward whispered across to her. He didn't know where Victoria was, but they had to hurry and be quiet. He wasn't sure if she was really just going to leave them to 'rot', or if she would be back to expedite the process. He didn't want to find out either. He saw Bella start to move, and it killed him. She was so broken, so bloody, he didn't know how she was still staying conscious, and now he was asking her to help him. At this moment he just wanted to get out of there, and reciprocate to Victoria everything she had done to Bella. He didn't think he had ever hated anyone in his entire life as much as he hated her now. He watched Bella slide across the floor, toward him, and it looked like she was only using one arm, he assumed the other was broken, along with her legs. After what seemed like an eternity, she grabbed onto his leg, pulling herself toward him. He could now see that one, and maybe even both of her eyes, were swollen shut.

"My hands are tied behind the banister." She felt up to where his arm was, and followed it down to his wrists where the rope was. He felt her start fumbling and then her breathing start to get erratic. Of course. She couldn't see, this was nearly impossible for her to do.

"Wait a minute, didn't Victoria have a knife down here?" Edward felt Bella tense behind him, and he hated to bring it up, but he figured it was the only way she could get the rope off of his wrists.

"Yes." Bella whispered so quietly he barely heard. She slowly moved away from him, crawling back to where she had been sitting before. He heard her moving around, sliding across the floor, when he heard the sound of the metal slide against the concrete floor. He listened to her crawl back toward him, hearing the blade drag against the floor slowly as she went. She finally made it back to him and started moving it against the rope. He could tell she was trying to remain calm, but the longer it took, the more shallow her breathe got. He was worried she was going to break down, when finally he felt it cut through, and the rope loosened around his wrists. She started pulling desperately at the rope, letting her calm dissipate, and minutes later his wrists were free. He reached down to his ankles, making quick work of that knot, before pulling Bella to him and hugging her as she sobbed against his chest. Even though they were still trapped, the fact that he finally had her was already such a relief. It felt like they were halfway there, halfway out of there. They could find a way out of here, and as long as Victoria kept her promise of letting them 'rot', then they could get out, no problem. He remembered a window he had walled up a couple years ago, but he hadn't exactly been a master craftsman, so certainly he could break through it to get through to the window. He was just about to tell Bella, when he heard Tanya walking around upstairs. He hugged her closer by instinct, and held his breath waiting. It sounded like she was walking around in circles, starting in the living room, walking around a few times, then she faded as she went down the hall. A few minutes later he heard her come back, walking around the dining room, and then into the kitchen, and it sounded like she was pouring water out onto the floor. And that's when he smelled it. Gasoline. She was going to burn the place down.

"Bella," Edward pulled her away from him to look at her, "we need to get out of here fast." He didn't want to alarm her, he knew it wouldn't take much to push her over the edge. She nodded her head quickly and shuddered, and took a deep breath, wincing as she did. He slowly and carefully helped her up, and over to the wall. "There is a window behind this wall, we need to get through it to get out."

"But she will hear us when we.." Bella didn't get to finish her sentence before a whoosing sound, followed by sound of shattering glass above them interrupted. He could feel heat starting to emanate from the floor above them. Victoria had already started the fire. Edward didn't wait any longer, and immediately started kicking and punching holes in the wall, knowing they had little time before the fire spread down to them. He realized he wasn't getting through as fast as he wanted, when suddenly at head level, a large blade stabbed into the wall. Bella had gotten the knife that was still coated in her own dried blood, and was doing her best to saw through the wall. Edward grabbed it and worked it through, cutting a slice all the way down. After that, he was much more successful in breaking through, and actually smiled when he saw the light from the front porch reflecting down through the window. Only, the window was a lot smaller than he remembered. It might be large enough for Bella, but definitely not for him. He froze for a moment, thinking about what this meant, when the sound of something crashing to the floor upstairs brought him back to reality.


	12. Chapter 12

"Bella, I'm going hoist you up through the window, you need to get to my truck as fast as possible, there is a spare set of keys in the console."

Edward said this so fast, she didn't have time to think. It wasn't before she had already squeezed through the window that she grasped his implication.

He wasn't coming.

She turned around, but he was already gone from the window. She screamed his name, but there was no answer.

She did her best to drag herself to the truck, crying in pain the whole way across the yard. One leg she knew was broken, the other, was in really bad shape. Nearly every window in the house had flames spitting out of them now.

She didn't know how Edward expected to get out of there.

She finally made it to the truck, and shoved open the console for the keys when she saw someone out of the corner of her eye. She looked up in relief that he had made it out, but it wasn't him.

Victoria walked from the fiery house, looking every part the villain as she slowly stalked toward Bella in the truck. Her red hair was nearly black, her clothes, and even patches of skin had been scorched. Bella was frozen with fear.

"Victoria!" Edward's voice roared out from behind her from the house .

Victoria froze, eyes wide, and turned. Edward was behind her, covered in soot, clothes and hair singed from the run up through the house. He was grasping his chest, coughing from the smoke. "Let her go." His voice was much weaker this time. He stumbled off the front porch toward her.

"Look at what she's done! Victoria screeched. "She's ruined our marriage! She's ruined our lives! And you just want her to walk away from that? No!"

As she turned back toward Bella, Edward lunged for her, only catching her by the ankles. Bella watched from the truck as they wrestled on the ground, with Edward struggling more than he should have been. He could have easily overpowered Victoria normally, but the smoke he had inhaled from running through the house had him struggling to breathe.

Victoria broke free of Edward, and he crouched on the ground as he went into a coughing fit. Bella could hear the house falling in on itself, the whole thing was engulfed by this time. When she looked back, Victoria had gotten what looked like a huge piece of wood that was on fire, and was walking toward Edward with it held high above her head.

Edward saw her and tried to get up, but everytime he tried to breathe in, he would start coughing. He couldn't get away from her.

That's when Bella hit her moment of clarity. She had just been sitting dumbly by, watching this all unfold in front of her as if she were watching a movie. An extremely crazy, unrealistic, this-could-never-happen-in-real-life movie.

She jammed the keys in the ignition, threw it in drive, and with a scream of pain and fury, used all her strength to punch the gas. Just as Victoria was bringing her torch down towards Edward, the front of the truck collided into her, with enough force to throw her back into the house.

As Bella helped pull Edward into the truck, they could hear Victoria screaming as the fire devoured her.


End file.
